My Facebook Event Group Rights

I received a Facebook message today from someone claiming to be an Administrative Assistant with the Public Dreams Society (henceforth referred to as PDS) , the people who bring you the Parade of Lost Souls.

Now this person is requesting that I turn over administrative rights to my Facebook Event group that I created a couple of months ago title 'Parade of Lost Souls 2008'. And if I don't turn over administrative rights, she may insist that I delete this event group.

Well first of all, this person did not include any official PDS contact information nor is there any mention of her on their website. Therefore, based on her justifications and the content of her Facebook message to me, I am not, at this point, going to blindly turn over any administrative rights and certainly not to a stranger ... I am sure you can understand the reasoning.

Now my feelings regarding this matter is simple: There is nothing on the PDS website that prohibits, limits, or governs the use of the event name or logo, at least none that I could find.

Secondly, I am well within my Facebook rights to create this event group because it promotes a public event by providing accurate event information. I am not fraudulently taking credit for producing the event or claiming to be part of PDS in any capacity. Nor is their logo being used for any commercial purposes other then adding brand credibility to the event group and bringing it directly to their target audience.

Hey! This is the second year I have created a Parade of Lost Souls event group - where was their concern last year? :)

I promote their event on my website, Vancouver's # 1 online Halloween destination, http://www.vancouverhalloween.com/ and have done so for several years but does this also mean I have to turn over administrative rights to my website? I think not.

Let me state here that I see no legal justification as to why I should turn over any administrative rights. However, she can mail me a written formal request on Public Dreams Society letter head, requesting that I not start a Parade of Lost Souls Facebook event group next year so that PDS can start one and control it. PDS can request my mailing address via the contact page of my website.

In addition, I am willing remove their logo from my event group image if they insist. Regretfully, the Facebook interface does not allow me to edit the event title otherwise I would consider accommodating that request too.

Finally, deleting this event is out of the question. Any forceful attempts by her to do so would only result in unwanted and unnecessary negative publicity that could possibly evolve into a public relations nightmare for PDS.

I expect to have over 100,000 page views on my website this month... and I don't think PDS would want all those Halloween enthusiasts and Facebook event group members reading how I tried to promote their event as the best in Vancouver only to have the Public Dreams Society force me to delete the Facebook Event Group because they wanted to control something they didn't have the initiative to start in the first place... please, I don't want to go down this path. Wait a minute! I think I might just have... :P

In closing, with only three weeks to go until the event date, I think it best we just leave things the way they are and next year they can do all the Facebook event promoting they want.